The One Man Jazz Trio Strikes Again!

I did a really great gig yesterday, utilizing my One Man Jazz Trio setup. The gig was at a local retirement community, backing up vocalist extraordinaire Donnie Finnell.

The One Man Jazz Trio

For those who haven’t read my previous posts, my One Man Jazz Trio project is my effort to simulate a jazz trio as a solo artist. Combined with a vocalist, we will essentially simulate a nice 3+1 combo or a vocalist backed up by a jazz trio.

For the simulated jazz trio, here’s the break down:

Right Hand = piano

Left Hand = upright bass

Right Foot = ride cymbal

Left Foot = hi-hat

So, yesterday we did just that and got a great response from the audience, with a few dancing to our swing and latin grooves.

Our Set List

Here was our set list (from what I remember of it):

Autumn Leaves – swing

Black Orpheus – bossa nova

Candy Man – swing

More – bossa nova

The Shadow of Your Smile – ballad

Fly Me To The Moon – swing

The Days of Wine and Roses – swing

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? – cha cha

Gina – cha cha

Charade – waltz

Route 66 – blues

Brazil – samba

Gig Notes

I would like to somehow add a closed hi-hat setup that I could play with my feet. This especially would help in playing Bossa Novas. I don’t know how this would work out, whether this would be played with my right foot or left foot.

I use my left foot to do 2 and 4 on the hi-hat. And I use my right foot for the ride cymbal, which is set up vertically and operated with a drumstick attached to a foot pedal.

Perhaps I need to fine tune the angle of the ride cymbal and the position of the ‘stick’, or the height of the ride cymbal.

Also, I might have to adjust the attack of the foot pedal.

Also, I’ll want to experiment with various ride cymbals to get that perfect match with everything else.

Carlos Rull is a musician living in the San Diego area. His interests include Yoga, Eastern Philosophy, Zen Buddhism, and Gardening. He plays drums, piano, and composes New Age & Ambient music, and his albums are available on iTunes and Amazon.com.